"Lazy." "Absent." "Morally bankrupt."
Those are just some of the words and phrases that have been used to describe black fathers for years, and they've made a lasting impression. Research, though, has proven what many of us already know:
Black dads are incredible.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study from 2013 found that black dads are actually more involved with their kids on a daily basis than any other racial group. Photographer Zun Lee recently partnered with the Campaign for Black Male Achievement to help change the erroneous narrative of the absent black dad.
"My biological father wasn't present, but there were many other [black men] that stepped up and were there," Lee explained of his motivation for the series. "I had father figures that I remembered helping me along the way. Because of them, I wanted to reframe the way America sees black fathers and black masculinity."
Lee has contributed to numerous campaigns debunking myths surrounding black men, most recently #BlackMaleReimagined. The campaign focused on some incredible data about the everyday lives of black dads, pairing them with Lee's photos.
The images he produced are breathtaking.